DelBene backed by Rep. Smith, the Herald

Ex- state revenue director Suzan DelBene picked up two endorsements from the political center on Tuesday in her Democratic candidacy in Washington’s open and recently redrawn 1st U.S. House district.

DelBene was endorsed by eight-term U.S. Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee. She also won support from The Herald of Everett.

“To get things done in Congress, it will take thoughtful members who will stand up to represent working families . . . and get past the hyper-partisanship that is making Congress so dysfunctional today,” Smith said in a statement.

DelBene is backed by Smith and Cong. Rick Larsen. Gov. Christine Gregoire has raised money for her campaign. Other DelBene endorsers range from the Sierra Club to the Teamsters and Boeing Aerospace Machinists.

The Herald in 2010 backed Republican John Koster in the old 2nd District, as the Tea Party ally took on Rep. Larsen for the second time.

Koster is running in the new 1st District, which took big chunks of the 2nd’s old territory in Whatcom, Skagit and eastern Snohomish Counties. Snohomish County is now split into three U.S. House districts. State Sen. Steve Hobbs, D-Lake Stevens, is also seeking the new 1st District seat.

DelBene, a former Microsoft vice president, comes from Medina — but she has impressed the Herald.

The Everett-based newspaper described her as a “political descendant” and “heir” to former Gov. Booth Gardner, a Democrat, and GOP Rep. Joel Pritchard, 1st District congressman in the 1970′s and 1980′s. Pritchard was an architect of the Washington Wilderness bill and an adversary of pork barrel spending.

DelBene is part of a “new generation of public servants who cross business know how with a progressive, outcome-oriented vision of government’s mission,” The Herald wrote.

The endorsement is likely a blow to Hobbs, who is running as a moderate Democrat. It is a considerable boost to DelBene, who is competing with two other Democratic women — ex-Rep. Laura Ruderman and progressive “net roots” activist Darcy Burner — in the crowded Democratic field.

Entrepreneur Darshan Rauniyar is the fifth Democrat running. Koster is the lone Republican.